第六十五回 · 長長長 Grow Grow Grow — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

長長長 Grow Grow Grow

這zhè星xīng宿xiù把bǎ身shēn變biàn小xiǎo了le，那nà角jiǎo尖jiān兒er就jiù似sì個gè針zhēn尖jiān一yí樣yàng，順shùn著zhe鈸bó合hé縫fèng口kǒu上shàng伸shēn將jiāng進jìn去qù。可kě憐lián用yòng盡jìn千qiān斤jīn之zhī力lì，方fāng能néng穿chuān透tòu裡lǐ面miàn。卻què將jiāng本běn身shēn與yǔ角jiǎo使shǐ法fǎ像xiàng，叫jiào：「長zhǎng！長zhǎng！長zhǎng！」角jiǎo就jiù長zhǎng有yǒu碗wǎn來lái粗cū細xì。这zhè星xīng宿xiù把bǎ身shēn变biàn小xiǎo了le，那nà角jiǎo尖jiān儿er就jiù似sì个gè针zhēn尖jiān一yí样yàng，顺shùn着zhe钹bó合hé缝fèng口kǒu上shàng伸shēn将jiāng进jìn去qù。可kě怜lián用yòng尽jìn千qiān斤jīn之zhī力lì，方fāng能néng穿chuān透tòu里lǐ面miàn。却què将jiāng本běn身shēn与yǔ角jiǎo使shǐ法fǎ像xiàng，叫jiào：「长zhǎng！长zhǎng！长zhǎng！」角jiǎo就jiù长zhǎng有yǒu碗wǎn来lái粗cū细xì。

逐句解 Line by line

這zhè星xīng宿xiù把bǎ身shēn變biàn小xiǎo了le，那nà角jiǎo尖jiān兒er就jiù似sì個gè針zhēn尖jiān一yí樣yàng，順shùn著zhe鈸bó合hé縫fèng口kǒu上shàng伸shēn將jiāng進jìn去qù。这zhè星xīng宿xiù把bǎ身shēn变biàn小xiǎo了le，那nà角jiǎo尖jiān儿er就jiù似sì个gè针zhēn尖jiān一yí样yàng，顺shùn着zhe钹bó合hé缝fèng口kǒu上shàng伸shēn将jiāng进jìn去qù。

The star lord made his body small, until the tip of his horn was like the point of a needle, and worked it in along the mouth of the cymbals' seam.

The horn has to be a needle before it can be a wedge, so the plan opens with a shrinking — the very trick that failed Pilgrim, now performed by somebody standing outside rather than in.

可kě憐lián用yòng盡jìn千qiān斤jīn之zhī力lì，方fāng能néng穿chuān透tòu裡lǐ面miàn。可kě怜lián用yòng尽jìn千qiān斤jīn之zhī力lì，方fāng能néng穿chuān透tòu里lǐ面miàn。

It cost him, poor creature, a whole thousand catties of strength before he could pierce through to the inside.

可憐 is the storyteller's own sympathy breaking in, and he spends it on a minor deity nobody has given a thought to. A thousand catties is a formula for everything a body has rather than a weight anybody is meant to total up. 盡 is jìn, used up to the last of it — and the chapter says so of this same creature again seven segments on.

卻què將jiāng本běn身shēn與yǔ角jiǎo使shǐ法fǎ像xiàng，叫jiào：「長zhǎng！長zhǎng！長zhǎng！」却què将jiāng本běn身shēn与yǔ角jiǎo使shǐ法fǎ像xiàng，叫jiào：「长zhǎng！长zhǎng！长zhǎng！」

Then he worked a spell on his own body and on the horn together, and called: "Grow! Grow! Grow!"

Three characters of command, each with its own exclamation mark, and the source keeps all three inside one pair of brackets so the whole call is a single utterance. The repetition is the effort, not the emphasis — the sound of somebody straining.

角jiǎo就jiù長zhǎng有yǒu碗wǎn來lái粗cū細xì。角jiǎo就jiù长zhǎng有yǒu碗wǎn来lái粗cū细xì。

And the horn grew to about the thickness of a bowl.

碗來粗細 is the everyday way of giving a dimension by comparison instead of measurement: bowl-ish, in thickness. Eight characters, and the plan has worked.

總評 Commentary

The one thing in this chapter that goes right. A needle of horn is driven through the seam by main force, a spell is spoken, and the needle becomes a shaft as thick as a bowl. Every step is the reverse of what has been tried so far: small before large, patience before force, one instrument instead of eight.

The narrator's 可憐 is worth stopping on. This is a chapter about a Great Sage and a demon king, and it breaks off to pity a minor star lord for the effort of getting a horn through a crack. What that effort costs him is the subject of the passage after next.